Thill-coupling.



T. H. HILL.

THILL COUPLING.

APPLIUATION FILED 001217. 191s.

1, 1 1 6,064'. l Patented Nov. 3, 1914 HaZZ.

'UNITED STATES PATENT oFirioEQ- 11,116,064. 'speemcaaonofmers'ment: Patented Nov. 3,1914.' f Application nled October 17, 1918. Serial No. 795,759. I

To all whom t may Undef y; scribed. A cylindrical sleeve 5 is carried by Be it known that I, THOMAS HENRY HILL, the arm 2 and extends outwardly and later- .a citizen of the United States, residing at ally therefrom at right angles thereto. `The i Winsted, in the county of Litchfield and couphnfr pin 4 1s mounted within the cylin- 5 State of Connecticut, have invented certain drical s eeve 5 .and extends through opens@ new and useful Improvements in Thill-Couings fOImd in the terminals of the arms 2,.)

plings; -and I do hereby declare the followand 3 as will be clearly seen withreferenceflv n ing to be a full, clear, and exact descrip- .tOrlg- 2111 hG'dI'aWlDgS. v f tion ofthe invention, such as will enable lhs COUPllng pui 4 1S sl1dably.mounted 10 others skilled in the art to which it apper- Wlthln th? Cyhndllcfllleeve 5 alla arms' 2 '6'5 mins to make and use the same, and 3 and is reduced for approximately half i My invention relates to new and useful ltS length as at This reduced portion 6'is. i improvements in thill couplings and resides adapted t have mounted thereon a helical in the provision of a thill coupling which expansion spring adapted for enga ement p will enable draft; poles, or shafts to be at one terminal with the shoulder 8 ormed 70 readily attached to and removed from runat the pointof the reduction of the vpin 4, ning gear of vehicles without the necessity and at. its other terminal with anA inwardly of screw bolts or wrenches.. extending annular flange 9 formedinte 1 AAn important object, of the invention is With the Qlltel telmlnal 0f lh Cylllldllcal .2o to rovide a device Such as described which sleeve 5 as -will be clearly, seen with reference 75' will) permit an expeditious coupling of vet9 F 1g- 2 1n the drawings. A rin 10 is carhicle shafts to 'vehicle running gear` and is r1ed upon the free termin l-'of t e reducedv so arranged as to prevent rattling of the portion 6 of the couplingp 4 and serves to coupled parts. limit the inward movement of the pin rela' .A still further object of the invention is tive to the cylindrical sleeve 5. The anti-rat- 80 to provide a device such as described which tling means forming apart of thev invention Vis simple as to construction and arrange- 'consists of two flat sections of spring metal ment of parts and cheap to manufacture. l1 and 12 respectively that are secured at The above and additional objects are actheir terminals as at 13 and arranged so that complished by such means as are illustrated they re disposed between the'shaft eyes'l'iV 5f in the accompanying drawings, described in and talle adjacent outer wall of the' clip 1`.. the following specification and' then more The section 11 engages the eye M and th'f' particularly ointed out in the claim which section l2 bears against the outer 'face of th@` is a pended creto and forms a part ofthis clip l. A plate 15 is carried by the uppe I ap ication. terminal of the spring 12 transversely there` 90 ith reference to the drawings, wherein, of and is adapted to engage the arms 2 and 3 l have illustrated the preferred embodiment and limit the movement of the springs relao my "invention, Figure 1 is a top plan view tive to the arms upon the downward moveof the coupling in assembled position.. Fig. ment of the spring. 40 2 is a longitudinal section taken on line 2-2 As a means for locking the coupling pin 4 95 of 1`ig. 1 particularly illustratin the couin coupled position there has been pryided a pling pin and the means for loc ing it 1n spring catch 16 that is secured at one termiclosed position, andFig. 3 is a side elcvanal b means of a bolt, screw or other suit-- tion illustrating the coupling pin 1n Section able listening means 17 to an approximately 45 and inserted through the shaft eye. V annular flange 18 that is formed integral 100 E Referring to'. the drawings By numerals 1 with the cylindrical sleeve 5 approximately designates as an entirety a -sliaped axle centrally of the ends thereof. The outer terclip of 'the ordinary type which 1s adapted minal of the spring catch 16 is bent up to be attached to tde front axle of the vewardly :it right angles to the body portion isol hielo.. thereof and extends outwardly therefrom at A pair of laterally extending arms 2 and right angles to the upwardly bent portion asA 3 are carried by the clip '1 adjacent one side at 19thus providing a shoulder portion that thereof in s aced relation to eachother and is adapted for engagement with the ring 10 i are adapted) to supportl a coupling'pin 4 which is moved into engagement with the 35 which will be hereinafter more -ully despring catch when the coupling pin4isinits 110 reference to j, To couple the shaft, the operator grasps coupled position, as will be clearly seen with Figs. 1 and 2 in the drawings.

'the ring l0 and pulls the coupling pin 4 out wardly from the arm 3 against the action of -the spring 7 mounted upon the reduced portion 6 of the couplm pin, until the eye 14 A may be placed between the arms 2 and 3.

The coupling pin 4 is then inserted through theeye 14 and arm 3 and the shafts are cou pled to the clip.' The ring 10 is then moved Into engagement with the spring catch 16 after the .manner described and the shafts are locked in cou led relation to the running gea-r of the vehic e. The eye 14 is placed into v engagement with the spring l1 which is suiciently wide to provide a bearing surface, prior to the coup' action such as described, thus it willbe seen that the coupled parts are held so that norattling is had'A he s 'ring 7 is at all times housed within the cyii the ring 10 limits the movement of the/cou# plmg-pin and thus the shoulder 8 on the pin is dis osed within the aperture in the arm 2 and the annular iange 9 provides for engagementA with the other terminal of the spring.

It is apparent that shafts or poles may be readily attached to the running gear oflvehicles in a reliable and expeditious `Ianner without the necessity of employing/screw bolts, etc., and that they may be readily removed from the vehicle by simply pressin the spring catch 16 which is held in spa relation to the cylindrical sleeve 5 b the annular ange 18 to which it is secur thus allowing-the ring 10 to be moved out of engagement with the catch and the coupling pin to be pulled outwardly from coupling engagement with the eye 14.

hespring catch 16 serves to hold the ring 10 securely so that rattling thereof is prendrical sleeve 5 owing to the fact that.;

vented ag well as to'assist the spring 7 in holding the bolt in locked position.

In reduction to practice, I have found that the formof my invention, illustrated in the drawings and referred to .in the above description, as the preferred embodiment, is the most efficient and practical; yet realizing that the conditionsconcurrent with the adoption of my device will necessarily vary, l desire to emphasize the fact that various proportion and arrangement of arts may be resorted to, when required, witbut sacrificing any of the advantages of my invention, as defined in the pended claim.

at is clailneiip 1s- In a thill coupling the combination with a U-shaped axle clip of a pair of laterally: ex-

tending arms carried by sa1d cli inspacedrelation to each other, a cylin ricalsleeve carried by one of said arms and exteidingat right angles thereto, a coupling mounted within said sleeve an extending through the arms, an expansion spring mounted Within said sleeve upon said coupling pin, a ring carried upon the free terminal of said coupling pin adjacent the outer terminal of said sleeve', a iange formed cenltrally of the ends of said sleeve, a spring JOHN J. BURKE, Gaoncn M. CAnnINoToN.

in slidably minor changes in details of construction, 

